How to Use Pinch in Dragon Quest Treasures

Dragon Quest Treasures can be a little weird about teaching you things. Once you’re dumped out in the world to seek your fortune, you can more or less do whatever. But the game might not tell you about things until much later than you’d think. For example, Erik and Mia have special abilities you can totally use well before you can access instructions. And you might miss those instructions anyway if you don’t talk to the right NPC. So if you’re looking over the menu and wondering how the heck to use Pinch, we’ll help you out.

How to Use Pinch in Dragon Quest Treasures

Related: 8 Things You Should Know Before Starting Dragon Quest Treasures

If you’ve been around the Dragon Quest series before, you know what Pinch is. For the newbies, it’s just what these games call the “steal” ability. Using Pinch can not only get you items from monsters without fighting them, but there’s a small chance you’ll find some treasure instead. So it’s worth messing with.

To use Pinch, you need to be crouched. Then, you have to get within a certain proximity to the monster you’re gunning for. You can be a pretty solid distance away though, as Erik or Mia will launch themselves forward for the steal attempt. Stealth is not important here. But what is important is a good ol’ QTE.

You’ll get a moment to perform one of those spinning circle QTE gimmicks, the ones with the colored-in section you have to stop where it touches the arrow. If you succeed you’ll get an item, and the monster will be alerted. If you fail, not only will the monster notice, it’ll get angry and receive a buff before immediately attacking you.

That’s all there is to it! Keep in mind that while you can Pinch from a surprising distance, you can’t go through obstacles or cross bodies of water.

You need a clear path on solid ground, or the dash will be interrupted.